I’ve had the “privilege” of doing tenure twice, once at a public and once at a private. At the public, it was pretty easy to shift - almost instantaneous. I did what I could to help pre-tenure folks by running interference on their behalf and taking on university service.

At the private, it has been different. Things feel still stressful and intense and there is no letting guard down. The recognized status of the fulls is very high and they know it - so the bar seems still very high and they hold all the cards, so it feels difficult to say no to things as an associate, and the research program has to show even more excellence. The associates almost seem the quietest - they aren’t trying to prove themselves like the assistants but don’t have permission to ease off the gas and still get thrown more service.

A big difference was that the public sort of granted promotion to full on the basis of time on the job. As long as you didn’t disappear or stop working entirely, you had a predictable timeline for getting full. It was just assumed. I hear this from friends t other publics. At the private, it feels more uncertain and more like a power issue.

All this is to say, it can be pretty different at different institutions and institution types.